SexEd Day: sex education, a child’s fundamental right

Geneva, nov. 16 - On November 20th, International Children’s Rights Day, the International Raelian Movement (IRM) is organizing the second edition of the International SexEd Day, calling on governments to implement early sex education that includes masturbation from childhood as recommended by experts from several international institutions such as UNESCO, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UNFPA in their research reports*.

« Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE), as defined in these reports, is exactly what Rael has been teaching for more than 40 years and what was transmitted to him by the Elohim, an extraterrestrial civilization that created all forms of life on earth, » explains Clemence Linard, Raelian guide and spokesperson for SexEd Day. « The goal is to give children and adolescents a sex education that is adapted to their age and culture and that emphasizes pleasure, fulfillment and well-being in terms of sexual health as defined by WHO. »

The spokesperson stresses that eliminating fear and guilt about sexuality and preventing sexual assaults are part of Rael's teachings and, according to the Raelian philosophy, the implementation of an early sex education will not only help young people, but greatly reduce the scourges of sexual violence and abuse, unwanted pregnancies, abortion and the spread of STIs.

« Instilling guilt and fear in pleasure and sexuality is a great Christian specialty, as stated by the WHO, yet early sex education allows children to learn about their limitations, as well as the notion of respect, which is the best preventive measure against sexual abuse, among others, » adds Clemence Linard. "In this respect, a lower rate of sexual violence would be observed in some Scandinavian countries where atheism predominates and are cited as an example for their sex education curriculum. »

The spokesperson also emphasized that in 2009, UNESCO censored one of these reports following pressures from Christian lobbyists especially the part that dealt with teaching masturbation from age 5. « It is absolutely outrageous for a scientific report to be censored as a consequence of backward religious pressures. »

In 2015, the Raelian Movement launched the SexEd campaign to denounce this censorship and called for the re-edition of the UNESCO report on sex education in accordance with the studies done by experts as well as the implementation by governments of these fundamental guiding principles aimed at counteracting conservative reactions and at explaining the benefits of early sex education (www.change.org/p/the-governments-of-all-countries-in-favour-of-sex-education-from-childhood).